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The United States of America is the main foreign trade partner of Guatemala. The customs of both countries have an ample and strong cooperation and collaboration trajectory. In October, a Customs Agreement between the countries entered into force. The purpose of this Agreement is to mitigate customs violations and crimes in the fight against fraud and smuggling, and to promote trade security and agility between both countries.
 
At Carrillo & Asociados, address all issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective, and we have the experience and specialized teams in the issues that are impacted by this agreement: tax matters, intellectual property, and criminal law.

The Agreement
The aim of the Agreement is the mutual assistance for the prevention, detection, and investigation of customs violations. The tax authorities of both countries must comply with all information requests made within the application framework.
 
The specific assistance will hinge upon:

• Information on the lawfulness of the importation and exportation of goods from one territory to the other one.
• Monitoring, when requested, persons whom they know, or suspect will commit any customs violation; as well as the goods, means of transportation and the premises where unlawful transportation is suspected, or that have been utilized to commit a customs violation.
• The provision of assistance through precautionary measures and confiscations.
• As a result of the assistance that has been provided, they may dispose of the forfeited assets, the product, and the forfeited means.
• They may authorize the exit, transit, or entry of unlawful or suspected goods in their corresponding territories, to investigate and prosecute customs violations.

 
Confidentiality: The limitations of the Agreement include the same level of confidentiality that the receiving party may give to similar information that the latter may have in its possession. The obtained information may only be used or disclosed for the purposes authorized in the exchange. If the legislation of any of the parties forces the receiving party to disclose it, the latter may do so if it is related to a criminal proceeding or if it is related to terrorism or other national security issues.
 
Exceptions: The parties may reject or suspend the assistance if their sovereignty or legal system is violated; or they may postpone the assistance when they believe that the provision of assistance may hinder any ongoing investigation, prosecution, or legal proceeding.
 
Advancements: This Agreement will allow to speed-up initiatives such as: pre-screening (which is the sharing of scan images to fast-forward the control and to facilitate the entry of exportations), safe ports, the participation of preferential contracts for exportations and mutual recognition agreements, among others.
 
Other perspectives:
Besides this Agreement with the US, the Guatemalan Tax Administration Superintendence (SAT) works in a profound integration model with the customs of Honduras and El Salvador and signed a Customs Agreement with Mexico in 2019.

In Intellectual Property issues,our main advice is to keep in order and in force the trademark registrations and determine who is the attorney-in-fact or the representative in charge of filing actions or clear doubts with the SAT.

From the criminal perspective,Guatemala exchanges information with 33 regional customs to hear crimes in these instances. Besides the SAT, this Agreement also includes the Office of the Attorney General, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Office of the Public Prosecutor. Therefore, any irregular activity, including possible criminal activities with respect to customs fraud and smuggling, may be investigated by the corresponding authorities.